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Berlin International Performing Arts Center

Blog Archive

Call Me Reality

“Of course I´m not perfect. I love my life and I have been lucky but I’m not perfect. I made my mistakes. I just followed the voice inside me. This damned voice inside has driven me somewhere, and I can’t come back.” Bob about himself

“I want to be honest with you. The only present I can offer.

I chose the place and the time. I share my world with you.

You are allowed to see what you want, it´s your time” Bianca to you

Sometimes we need illusions to survive and we create a world that doesn’t correspond to reality.

We need to stay in a comfortable space. We are scared to leave. We have fear. We want security. We escape in our mental constructions and we finally find ourselves again.

Balancing on the two levels of reality and dream, the piece focuses on the theme of identity. Using psychological violence, an apparently stronger person tries to confirm herself and her existence destroying someone who appears weaker.

 

BIYT’S MACBETH

Macbeth_highSomething wicked this way comes …

Berlin International Youth Theatre performs

William Shakespeare’s MACBETH

a sinister tale of ambition, guilt and madness

In BIYT’s newest production we take a look at the corrupting nature of ambition and the destruction that stems from ruthless power.

Flattered, praised and rewarded as a hero, Macbeth encounters three witches who foretell of an even greater success. They predict his rise to the throne. This prediction prompts him, along with his wife, to secure his destiny by committing a series of murders, pulling them into a downward spiral of guilt and paranoia. Once violence is chosen as a means of achieving power, it proves impossible to stop and Macbeth’s inexorable loss of morality reminds us of how one evil minute can change a life forever.

Thunder!  Lightning!  Blood!  Gore!  Witches !

The 2014 Berlin International Youth Theatre Benefit

Happy belated 450th Birthday, To you dear Bill!

Yes , we realize that its a tad late since he was born in April, but hey, better late than never! So come join us and have a jolly good time as you support BIYT’s upcoming production of Macbeth by William Shakespeare and at the same time enjoy celebrating the 450th birthday of William Shakespeare!

Along with a special sneak peek of the new BIYT production, we’ll feature:

  • Special and “unusual ” live music
  • A silent auction in addition to our infamous auction of artifacts
  • Home-made baked goods
  • Games for the whole family

And don’t forget to bring your own wind-up toy for our classic BIYT wind-up toy race!

It’s Not About You

International People’s Theatre Berlin

pic4

The piece explores our ongoing search for meaning in a world overrun by choices that seem to define our identities and feed our delusions of self-importance and grandeur.

Eleven theater enthusiasts from around the world living in Berlin, six months to prepare for the “big show”, the daunting search for a theme. But could it be that the key to Generation Y lies in the search itself? For the protagonists of this age, endless navel-gazing provides a potent addendum to the American Dream. The seemingly boundless avenues of success and personal fulfilment are compounded by a daily binge of self-glorification – or abasement – on social media. But is the innate task of forging our own destinies in fact a thankless struggle against influences beyond our control? Are we doomed to succumb to the powers that have shaped the lives of every generation before us?

International People’s Theatre Berlin is an ensemble that aims at creating original theater pieces based on devised material.

 Photos: Elise Scheider (Creative direction: Matthew Peach)

ComedySportz

It’s not comedy about sports: it’s comedy PLAYED as a sport!

Two teams of professional improvisers compete for laughs and points as they create stories and musicals on-the-spot. It’s complete with a referee, uniforms and a scoreboard. The audience yells suggestions and ultimately decides which team is the evening’s winner. It’s fast-paced custom-made comedy. ComedySportz Berlin has been performing since 2004 and is honored to play a match at English Theatre Berlin | International Performing Art Center.

May 2014 International Comedy Showcase

For the last three years, Berlin has seen an explosion in English-language comedy. With regular open mics and showcases and springing up all over town in various bars, cafés and art spaces, dozens of Berlin-based comedians from around the world (including Germany!) are finding their voices and sharing their lives in hilarious detail.

Featuring Stefan Danziger (DE), David Deery (USA), Caroline Clifford (UK) and headliner Will Franken (San Francisco)

Hosted and curated by Paul Salamone (USA) with musical co-host Stephen Paul Taylor (Canada)

“What elevates Mr. Franken above your garden-variety comedian is an erudite wit and a highly developed sense of the absurd”
— The New York Times
“Franken wanders through a parallel-universe city populated by hipsters who challenge John Milton to poetry slams and crass marketers of women’s empowerment symposia, among other fun-house imaginings. ”
— The Onion

Southern Promises

When the master of the plantation dies, he wills his slaves to be freed, but his wife doesn’t think that good property should be squandered. Pandemonium ensues. The play is inspired by the true story of Henry Box Brown who escaped to the north by mailing himself in a box.

Thomas Bradshaw’s plays have been produced at regional theaters, in NYC as well as in Europe. In 2012, the Flea Theater successfully produced his play Job and in 2011, his play Burning ran to rave reviews at the New Group/NYC and the Goodman Theater produced his play Mary, which they had previously commissioned. His play The Bereaved, produced by Partial Comfort, was named one of the Best Plays of 2009 in Time Out New York and was a New York Times Critic’s Pick. The Bereaved was subsequently produced at The State Theater Of Bielefeld in Germany and presented in Berlin. In 2008, two of his plays premiered in NYC: Southern Promises, at Performance Space 122 in September, and Dawn, at The Flea Theater in November, and both were listed among the Best Performances of Stage and Screen for 2008 in The New Yorker. His plays Purity, Prophet, and Strom Thurmond is Not a Racist and Cleansed were produced in NYC. A German translation of Dawn was presented at Theater Bielefeld in Germany in October 2008 and published by Theater Der Zeit in that same month. Mr. Bradshaw received his M.F.A. from Mac Wellman’s playwriting program and is Professor of Playwriting at Northwestern University.

Sofia Talvik

Sofia Talvik has emerged like a lady of the forest, bringing a new interesting side to folk music. She plays a unique blend of folk-pop (someone said Neo-Folk). This American genre filtered through her Swedish heritage becomes something totally unique, a blend that has attracted attention from a broad audience all over the world.

Her combination of modal chord changes and beautiful 60’s folk-pop melodies combined with the gentle singing of a 70’s folk songstress will make you think of Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, Jewel and Aimee Mann.

“Of all the voices – and man, they seem to issue them at birth to Swedish women – Talvik has the most faith in hers in an “I don’t need a theatrical gimmick” kind of way.” – Austin Chronicle

 

support act mc hansen

MC HansenDanish singer and guitar slinger MC Hansen combines the storytelling of traditional folk music with contemporary country sounds. His music echoes both his Danish heritage and his American influences.
The sound of Scandinavia in American clothes – it’s Scandicana! Imagine Bob Dylan playing chess with H.C. Andersen on Neil Young’s front porch.

A travelling musician since 2003, he plays some 120 shows a year with his own band or as the guitar slinger with The Sentimentals who tour with Jonathan Byrd, Gurf Morlix, Ed Romanoff, Corin Raymond, Ana Egge, Matt Harlan, Dana Cooper and Sam Baker. He’s played the Olympia in Paris and the Hammersmith Apollo in London with Madeleine Peyroux. He tours all year and so far he’s played shows in 12 different countries, toured America six times and released four albums.

His fifth album From Whitehorse to the Crow’s Nest will be released in the fall of 2014.

Info Abend for the 2014 Expat Expo: A Showcase of Wahlberliner

English Theatre Berlin | International Performing Arts Center puts its Miete where its mouth is with our annual festival featuring our most important resource – the community of international artists and the English-language Freie Szene.

The Expo has three components: evening performances, daytime workshops and family-friendly programming as well as the Expat Markt, a weekend-long marketplace cum performance installation featuring the goods and services of international visual artists, business owners and performers. Each evening features a curated selection of performances by multiple artists (in every genre imaginable) taking place throughout our entire facility, from our stage to our dressing rooms to our breathtaking courtyard.

Do you want to be part of the 2014 Expat Expo? Come to the Info Abend on April 16 at 7pm to find out how to apply!

Expat Expo: June 9 – 13, 2014

Expat Markt: June 14 + 15, 2014